Shipwire in the News

Business Wire, September 29, 2008.

Merchants Using Shipwire to Benefit from Hofmann’s 33 Years of Logistics and Supply Chain Expertise.

Sunnyvale, CA, September 29, 2008 Shipwire, Inc. today announced the addition of business-logistics industry veteran, Ivan Hofmann, to its advisory team in the role of logistics advisor to the Shipwire board and executive team. With 33 years of experience and success, Hofmann is a recognized leader in the $1.2 trillion business-logistics industry, having contributed significantly to its growth and development as president of RPS Inc. (Roadway Package System) and EVP and chief operating officer of FedEx Ground. Hofmann brings to the Shipwire team a deep expertise in business and small parcel ground shipping.

“Small businesses have needed an easy-to-use Internet-delivered service that empowers them to enter new markets and grow sales,” states Hofmann. “Shipwire’s logistics platform gives merchants powerful shipping and order fulfillment tools as well as supply chain insight that solves major warehouse and shipping headaches for small- business merchants. Similar to FedEx Ground, Shipwire empowers business owners with the tools to make complex logistics operations easy, even for the most time-strapped business owner. For retailers in growth mode, outsourcing their warehouse storage and order fulfillment to Shipwire lets them focus on growing their core business.”

Ivan Hofmann, retired chief operating officer of FedEx Ground, brings to Shipwire extensive expertise in logistics, transportation, warehouse distribution and shipping. Mr. Hofmann joins Shipwire after a successful 33-year career with transportation logistics companies that began in 1970 when he joined a national LTL carrier. Between 1973 and 1985 he held roles related to sales, logistics transportation, warehousing distribution services and district management with Roadway Express. In 1985 he became vice president of Operations of Roadway Package System Inc., the forerunner of Fedex Ground Inc. Promoted in 1990 to senior vice president of operations, he became president of RPS Inc. on January 1, 1993. During his tenure, the company reached significant sales and operations milestones, exceeding $1 billion in annual revenue and reaching 100 percent coverage of the North American market. With the acquisition of former RPS parent company Caliber System by FedEx in January 1998, Hofmann was named executive vice president and chief operating officer of FedEx Ground. After helping build FedEx Ground into a major competitor in the business-to-business and small-package shipping market, Hofmann retired from the company in 2004.

Damon Schechter, founder and CEO of Shipwire, and author of Delivering the Goods: The Art of Managing Your Supply Chain (Wiley, 2002) states, “Ivan Hofmann’s addition to our team has already proven to be a major benefit both to Shipwire and to the companies using our services. Ivan personally walks the floor of our business and provides hands-on advice, allowing us to provide a much better experience to our customers. His invaluable expertise will help us accelerate growth and continue our aggressive international expansion. Already, we”ve seen results in cost containment, volume shipping discount negotiations and strategic expansion.”

Hofmann states, “I”ve spent much of my career building scalable outsourced shipping operations for businesses. The Shipwire solution solves a major pain point for merchants focused on fast growth: how to scale warehouse and shipping services in line with sales without making a major investment. We intend to make Shipwire a major player in the global movement of goods—with aggregated buying power—by building a world-class shipping and warehousing solution, available on-demand to growing businesses.”

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About Shipwire (http://www.shipwire.com)
Shipwire provides growing e-tailers with e-commerce order fulfillment services powered by a global warehouse network and its Store-Sell-Ship™ platform. Shipwire eliminates the hassle of storage and shipping, so merchants can focus on growth. With warehouses in Los Angeles, Reno, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver and the UK, Shipwire allows merchants to drastically reduce shipping costs by locating inventory closer to buyers. Usage-based plans start at just $29/month, and enable merchants to locate inventory in all warehouses, with no contract commitments. Shipwire is the only warehouse logistics service that instantly integrates with shopping carts and inventorymanagement systems. Shipwire is developer and partner friendly; learn more about our e-commerce developer affiliate program. Get our outsourced e-commerce order fulfillment guide. For a free trial or more information, contact 1-888-SHIPWIRE or visit http://www.shipwire.com/trial.